Steve 'Flash' JuonIcadon has a few good things going for him and a few other things that could hurt his career badly. On the positive side the name Icadon will ring bells to Redman fans, as he has been part of Reggie Noble’s extended “Gilla House” family for a while now and made several prominent appearances on the Red Gone Wild album. On the negative side nobody associated with Icadon other than the artist and his immediate fam has pushed for him to step out of Red’s shadow and become a mainstream hip-hop star in his own right. This lack of upward mobility has resulted in making info on Icadon hard to find. Even though you can buy Icadon’s “Robot-ic” EP on iTunes, you can’t even find a bio for the MC on Wikipedia (a “notability” issue your boy Flash has become all too familiar with).
The proactive solution for Icadon’s career was to branch out on Johnny Pump Entertainment, Icadon’s personal imprint as confirmed by his on the homepage feels like a minor miracle. I respect that the sad web design may be a budgetary issue (I know the time and money it costs to redo a site right) but Icadon may have been better off keeping his label’s page on MySpace as it would not only have been cheaper but potentially would have looked a lot cleaner and less embarassing.
Let’s go back to the positives again. Icadon is working with long-time hip-hop favorite Rockwilder on this short three song EP, which ups the dopeness quotient far more than would tend to be the average for a rapper trying to get established. The title track “Robot-ic” is reminiscent of Rockwilder’s beat on the Redman smash hit “Let’s Get Dirty” for all the right reasons – it’s bouncy, energetic, electronic and heavy on the bass. The surprising thing is that Rockwilder DROPS A VERSE ON IT. That’s right, Rockwilder steps out from behind the boards to bust a verse, and unlike the Johnny Pump website it’s not embarassing in any way – simplistic perhaps, but not whack.
“I’m Rockwilder, y’all know the name
It’s big pimpin, y’all know the game
Make the club rock, it ain’t no thang
Dawg, I’m a human beat machine
I’m a robot that just came to party
We ain’t come to hurt nobody
We just came here to watch mami
Dance ’round here like she robotic”
Unfortunately after the lead single the “Robot-ic” EP falls off a cliff, which is impressive when you consider there are only three songs on the whole thing. Somebody forgot to EQ the volume because “I’m a Mac” is half the levels of the lead track, and while Icadon’s performance is aight lyrically the beat does nothing for me and the chorus hook “I’m a Mac, but I’m not an iPod Touch” seems too cheesy and contrived for a pro like Icadon to spit on a song. Things finish a little stronger on the EP’s closer “Trouble” but it’s not enough to salvage this EP from the digital bargain bin. Even though the whole release is only $2.97 (+ tax where applicable) it’s really not worth it to cop the whole thing – you’re much better off to buy the lead single a la carte and leave the rest of this alone. I respect Icadon’s hustle and willingness to move ahead on his own and not wait around for Redman to make shit happen, but respect is one thing and dope music is another altogether. Batting one for three may make you an MLB all-star but in the hip-hop game it makes you yesterday’s news. Half props go out for a strong lead track but otherwise Icadon needs to rethink what he releases to the public and that includes his website.